Electronic toy capable of emotion displaying using an emotion unit

ABSTRACT

An electronic toy capable of displaying emotions is provided in the present disclosure. The electronic toy includes an emission unit for displaying an emotion of the electronic toy, and a memory system for storing a color-emotion table recording a relationship between the emotion of the electronic toy and different colored light emitted by the emission unit. A controller is electrically connected with the emission unit for turning on or turning off elements of the emission unit according to the relationship between the emotion and the different colored light emitted by emission unit. In particular, the emission unit typically includes three lamps emitting light of three primary colors, and a light mixer, wherein the light mixer mixes the primary color light emitted by the lamps.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an electronic toy, and more particularly to a system and a method for displaying an emotion of an electronic toy using an emotion unit.

2. Related Art

Nowadays, many electronic toys are intelligent. Electronic toys can walk, speak, and display different emotions by obtaining ambient information (for example, light, sound, temperature, and actions) and internal information (for example, power supply, and body temperature). In one example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,203, U.S. Pat. No. 6,442,450, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,667,593 disclose toys capable of changing their own emotion by apperceiving external or/and internal information.

In another example, toys can display different emotions by emitting different colored lights. For instance, a toy named “iCat” is produced by the Japanese company, Segway. The iCat employs the use of seven pieces of triple-color LEDs positioned on a face of the iCat in order to emit different colors corresponding to different emotions.

The iCat only emits a simple color by one or more triple-color LEDs to display one kind of emotion at one time. The iCat cannot change the color of the triple-color LEDs during an action according to the one kind of emotion.

SUMMARY

In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known electronic toys present before, the present invention provides an electronic toy capable of displaying an emotion using an emission unit.

The electronic toy includes an emission unit, a memory system, and a controller capable of displaying an emotion of the electronic toy. The emission unit includes lamps capable of emitting light of at least three primary colors and a light mixer configured for mixing at least one color of the at least three primary colors emitted by the lamps into a displayed light corresponding to an emotion of the electronic toy. The memory system is configured for storing a color-emotion table, wherein the color-emotion table is configured for recording a relationship between the emotion of the electronic toy and the primary colors of light emitted by the emission unit. The controller, electrically connected with the emission unit, is configured for turning on or turning off the lamps according to the relationship between the emotion and the primary colors of light emitted by the emission unit.

A method of displaying an emotion for an electronic toy by a plurality of lamps includes the following steps: determining an emotion of the electronic toy; accessing a color-emotion table to obtain at least one emission time length according to the emotion; turning on or turning off at least one lamp according to the at least one emission time length; emitting different colored light with different intensities according to the at least one emission time length; and mixing the different colored light to generate a resultant color light to display the emotion of the electronic toy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an electronic toy capable of displaying an emotion of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is one embodiment of a color-emotion table stored in a memory of the electronic toy of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is one embodiment of time waveforms of a red lamp, a blue lamp, and a red lamp of the electronic toy of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of one embodiment of a method to express an emotion by the electronic toy of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN INVENTIVE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an electronic toy 1 capable of displaying an emotion of the present disclosure. The electronic toy 1 includes a micro control unit (MCU) 10, a memory 20, an ambient sensor unit 30, a controller 40, an output unit 50, an emission unit 60, and an internal sensor unit 70.

The ambient sensor unit 30 is configured for apperceiving external information from a surrounding environment of the electronic toy. Based on the external information received by the ambient sensor unit 30, the electronic toy may display one or more emotions as will be further explained herein. In one embodiment, the ambient sensor unit 30 includes, but is not limited to, an image sensor, a sound sensor, and a touch sensor, for example, for detecting brightness, sound, and pressure, respectively. The ambient sensor unit 30 may further or alternatively include other sensory elements. In one example, in order to imitate a live pet, at least one sensor from the ambient sensor 30 may be appropriately placed in predetermined positions in or around the electronic toy 1. For example, image sensors can be positioned inside an eye of the electronic toy 1, sound sensors can be positioned in an ear of the electronic toy 1, and touch sensors can be positioned around the neck and the stomach of the electronic toy 1.

The internal sensor unit 70 is configured for apperceiving internal information about the electronic toy 1. Based on the internal information from the electronic toy 1, the internal sensor unit 70 may correspond with the MCU 10 and/or other components of the electronic toy 1 in order to control and/or operate the electronic toy 1. In one embodiment, the internal sensor unit 70 includes, but is not limited to, a battery sensor, a heat sensor, and a time senor, for example, for detecting a battery power, a body temperature, or a system time, respectively, of the electronic toy 1. In one embodiment, the internal sensor unit 70 may be positioned inside the electronic toy 1.

The output unit 50 is configured for moving the electronic toy 1 and/or outputting audible sound to an environment external to the electronic toy 1. In one embodiment, the output unit 50 includes at least one speaker, such as a speaker 51 for outputting audible sound, and a plurality of motors, such as a motor 52 for driving the electronic toy 1 to move or to perform actions. In one embodiment, the speaker 51 can be positioned in the mouth of the electronic toy 1.

The MCU 10 is configured for obtaining ambient condition information based on the ambient sensor unit 30, and is further configured to obtain body characteristic information based on the internal sensor unit 70. Because the MCU 10 is a well-known technology on how the electronic toy 1 determines an action according to the characteristics detected by the ambient sensor unit 30 and/or the internal sensor unit 70, embodiments of the present disclosure omit detailed analysis of how the electronic toy 1 performs these actions. Rather, embodiments of the present disclosure detail how the electronic toy 1 emits different colored lights under the control of and according to the MCU 10 and the emission unit 60.

As shown in FIG. 1, the emission unit 60 includes a plurality of lamps, such as a red lamp 61, a green lamp 62, and a blue lamp 63. Furthermore, the emission unit 60 includes a light mixer 64. The red lamp 60 emits red colored light, the green lamp 62 emits green colored light, and the blue lamp 63 emits blue colored light. Other lamps that emit other colors of light corresponding to various wavelengths in the visible light spectrum can instead be employed. Depending on the embodiment, the lamps 61, 62, 63 can be light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or other lamps capable of emitting light of three primary colors (i.e., red, green, and blue). The light mixer 64 mixes the different colored light emitted by the lamps to produce a resulting color that may be used for displaying emotions of the electronic toy 1. In one particular embodiment, the light mixer 64 may be a piece of glass positioned on the lamps 61, 62, 63. It may be appreciated that different colored lamps may comprise the emission unit 60 in addition to the red lamp 61, the green lam 62, and the blue lamp 63. For example, a cyan colored lamp, a magenta colored lamp, a yellow colored lamp, and a key colored lamp (e.g. black) may comprise the emission unit 60.

The memory 20 is typically a memory system that is configured to record a relationship between an emotion and at least one colored light emitted from the emission unit 60. Depending on the embodiment, the memory 20 may include flash-based memory or any other static or dynamic memory system.

In one embodiment, the memory 20 includes a color-emotion table 21 as shown in FIG. 2. The color-emotion table 21 may be used to correspond an emotion type column 22 with a color column 23, and with an emission time length column 24. The emotion type column 22 may be used to correspond to an emotion, such as a sleepy emotion or a hungry emotion, for example. The color column 23 may be used to link a color corresponding to the emotion type column 22 such that each emotion, from the emotion type column 22, has a corresponding color. The emission time length column 24 may be used to link a unit of time of one or more LEDs corresponding to a color in the color column 23. For example, in order for the electronic toy 1 to express a feeling of sleepiness, a purple color would be displayed by the light mixer unit 60. To display the color purple by the light mixer unit 60, the red LED 61 may be turned on for 2.5 ms, the green LED 62 may be turned off, and the blue LED 63 may be turned on for 2.5 ms. Waveforms of powering on or powering off the red lamp 61, the green lamp 62, and the blue lamp 63 to express the emotion of “sleepy” are shown in FIG. 3. It may be appreciated that other colors of light can be obtained based on different emission time lengths of the lamps, thereby expressing different emotions. It may be further appreciated that an emission time length of the red lamp 61, the green lamp 62, and the blue lamp 63 may correspond to an intensity of the lamps 61, 62, 63. The intensity, in one embodiment, may define a brightness of the lamps 61, 62, 63.

In another example, the MCU 10 may access the color emotion table 21 in order to display an emotion by the electronic toy 1. The accessing may include obtaining an emission time length of at least one LED corresponding to the emotion and then transmitting the emission time length to the controller 40. The controller 40 may turn on one or more lamps for a duration of time according to the emission time length. The emission unit 60 provides the resulting color based on the turned on lamps.

It may be appreciated that three primary colors can generate thousands of colors on the condition that the three primary colors are proportionally mixed. In one embodiment, the three primary colors may be red, green, and blue (RGB), while in another embodiment, the colors may be cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of one embodiment of a method to express an emotion by the electronic toy 1. In step S11, the electronic toy 1 obtains an emotion type based on the ambient sensor unit 40 and the internal sensor unit 70. In step S12, the MCU 10 accesses the color-emotion table 21 to read the color and the emission time length according to the emotion, and sends the emission time length to the controller 40. In step S13, the controller 40 turns on or turns off the red lamp 61, green lamp 62, and blue lamp 63 according to the emission time length in the color-emotion table 21. In step S14, the light mixer 64 mixes the colored lights emitted by the lamps 61, 62, 63 into a resulting color to express the emotion.

It is believed that the present embodiments and their advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferred or exemplary embodiments of the invention. 

1. An electronic toy capable of displaying emotions, the electronic toy comprising: an emission unit configured for displaying an emotion of the electronic toy, wherein the emission unit comprises lamps capable of emitting light of at least three primary colors, wherein the emission unit further comprises a light mixer configured for mixing at least one color of the at least three primary colors emitted by the lamps into a displayed light, wherein the light displayed corresponds to an emotion of the electronic toy; a memory system configured for storing a color-emotion table, wherein the color-emotion table is configured for recording a relationship between the emotion of the electronic toy and the primary colors of light emitted by the emission unit; and a controller, electrically connected with the emission unit, configured for turning on or turning off the lamps according to the relationship between the emotion and the primary colors of light emitted by the emission unit.
 2. The electronic toy according to claim 1, wherein the lamps comprise a red lamp, a green lamp, and a blue lamp.
 3. The electronic toy according to claim 2, wherein the color-emotion table is further configured for recording a relationship between at least one emotion, at least one color, and at least one emission time length, wherein the emotion is defined by the displayed light emitted by at least one of the lamps, wherein the emotion is further defined by the at least one emission time length of at least one of the lamps.
 4. The electronic toy according to claim 3, further comprising a micro control unit (MCU), wherein the MCU accesses the color-emotion table to obtain the at least one emission time length according to the emotion and transmits the emission time length to the controller.
 5. The electronic toy according to claim 4, wherein the controller controls the lamps to emit at least one colored light with at least one intensity, wherein the intensity corresponds to the emission time length.
 6. The electronic toy according to claim 5, wherein the light mixer mixes the at least one colored light with the at least one intensity to generate a resultant colored light to display the emotion.
 7. A method of displaying an emotion for an electronic toy, wherein the toy comprises a plurality of lamps, the method comprising: determining an emotion of the electronic toy; accessing a color-emotion table to obtain at least one emission time length according to the emotion; turning on or turning off at least one lamp according to the at least one emission time length; emitting different colored light with different intensities according to the at least one emission time length; and mixing the different colored light to generate a resultant color light to display the emotion of the electronic toy.
 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the lamps emit light of three primary colors. 